Much of life on Earth is being replaced by the warming climate, and this notwithstanding the fact that global temperature has increased by 1 degree as compared to pre-industrial times. The latest study which was published in journal Science has revealed that 82% of vital ecological elements like genetic diversity and migration patterns are being affected by this small but far reaching increase of global temperatures.
The effects of global warming are widespread and all are encompassing affecting everything including land, oceans, freshwater and air. The rise in temperature is 1.87 degrees Fahrenheit which is hardly 1 degree Celsius from the pre–industrial times due to the widespread use of fossil fuels.
Brett Scheffers, who is a member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Climate Change Specialist Group and the lead study author, said that with a just increase in 1 degree Celsius, widespread effects are already evident. Global warming has much more profound ramifications than previously thought. It is seen in individual gene changes, shifts in species physiology as well as the physical features such as body size and migration of species to entirely new locations.
These changes will have widespread effects on human civilization, and there will be increased outbreaks of diseases, erratic crop yields which will precipitate food security and lead to social upheavals.
More than 94 ecological processes were documented in available peer-reviewed literature in the study which has warned that with ecosystems changing it will be more and harder to guard against the most debilitating effects of climate change. Forests will no longer be able to flush out large amounts of Carbon dioxide, and rising ocean temperatures will cease to serve as the buffer it used to be in the past. Incidences of climate-related floods, rising sea levels, and cyclones will become worse in the coming times. People depend heavily on healthy ecosystems for food, clean water and livelihood and changes will have a profound impact on their earnings also.
